Four Seasons expanding in the Caribbean; Barbados in March and soon Grenada as both offer strong markets, says Nevisian Hotel Executive

by AirBourne / February 12th, 2010

Premier of Nevis Hon. Joseph Parry said the role of the Nevis Island Administration (NIA) in the successful reopening of the Four Seasons Resort, Nevis was proactive and not passive.

Mr. Parry made the NIA’s position clear in an interview with the Department of Information, on the heels of a number of meetings with bankers, Four Season’s representatives and other stakeholders recently.

The Premier said the Administration had gone beyond the stage of offering concessions and had to become an active partner in the interest of Nevisians.

Four Seasons General Manager and Regional Vice President Mr. Andrew Humphries described the discussions as positive. He said in the end emerged a spirit of cooperation which brought the timely opening of the resort closer with the requisite standards.

The Resort’s General Manager said during the meetings, there were also several consultants who presented various plans for several matters including reinstatement of the coastal protection and reinstatement of the landscaping. Others presented ideas on how the feel of the resort could be modernised, all with the aim of completing renovation work in a fairly short time period.

Physical reconstruction of the Four Seasons Resort has reached its final stages and Humphries says though they were forced to release hundreds of staff members during its closure, several remained employed.

The General Manager addressed the matter of continued employment and the hotel’s continued contribution to Nevis in an interview with the Department of Information earlier this week.

The executive said after 20 years on Nevis the hotel chain was expanding its business in the Caribbean because of the strong market the region offered.

Humphries, a Regional Vice President of the Four Seasons as well as Nevis’ General Manager made the disclosure during a recent interview with Nevis’ Department of Information.

“Ultimately we are in business and we see that it makes good business sense to be in the Caribbean. There is a strong market both from Europe and the US for our resorts. We have a worldwide reputation for running excellent hotels and the two come together very nicely in the Caribbean region.

“Access is always a little bit of a challenge in the Caribbean as we know but we hope that with stability of access and potentially even some increase in access from Europe, that we can continue to develop the business very successfully and have many hotels across the region. It’s a product both the European and the US market love. We believe that we can do business in all of these islands,” he said.

The construction of a property in Barbados had commenced in 2009 but Mr. Humphries explained there had been some delays with that project and work was expected to move forward shortly.

Four Seasons Regional Vice President Mr. Andrew Humphries. He is also the General Manager of the Four Seasons Resort, Nevis

“Obviously we have had some slow down in the developments due to the economic circumstances but I am pleased to say that the Barbados project is about to restart. They have secured additional financing with help from the Government of Barbados and mid March should see the site being reactivated getting back on track to completing the homes and the hotel. So that is very exciting news…

“Linked to Barbados is a site in Grenada. I think until we are really sure Barbados is back on track, Grenada will remain on hold but they are exciting developments. As well, potentially a site in Puerto Rico that we are actively looking at and also a site in the Dominica Republic at Casa de Campa. That’s a very large and prestigious development in the Dominican Republic and that’s our current portfolio but we are always looking for opportunities, we are always looking for business partners.” he said.

They have also looked at projects in the US Virgin Islands in many different places not all of them came to fruition, the Regional Vice President said but they were always interested in talking to investors.